Lately I've been hearing voices.
These voices, they ask me to do things I don't want to do. Most recently these voices have been protesting the amount of time I spend blogging and they are also partially to blame for my delay in posting the reveal about that mystery fruit. I try but it's hard to ignore the voices. I swear, I can even hear them in my sleep!
Voice #1: " Mooooooom, may I have a snack?"
Voice #2: "Mummy, want milk?"
As yet, Voice #2 doesn't speak in complete sentences but punctuates by screaming.
Voice #1: "Moooooooom, he doesn't want to share. Make him share?"
Voice #2: SCREAMS.
Voice #1: "Mom, I want to look at Ben 10."
Voice #2: SCREAMS. ( He wants to look at Doki on Discovery Kids).
Voice #2's communication is more telepathic than verbal...
Voice #1:"OOOOW! Mom make him stop biting."
...and sometime physical.
Mom, sipping on her sanity saving smoothie, steps in to prevent a trip to the hospital.
Voice #1:"May I go outside?"
You've gotta know that I'm only pretending these voices are polite. Play along.
Voice #2: "Mine, bike!"
Voice #1: "Mom, why doesn't he share?"
Voice #2: "Mummy, naughty. Spank you."
Or maybe that was Voice #1 again. Heck, you know you're in trouble when you start mixing up the voices!
Voice #1: "Mom, I'm hungry."
Voice #2: "Mummy, foody!"
Listen. I'll be the first person to tell you that my children are insanely cute, super adorable and so very sweet. Such over the top sweetness can be described by the local phrase "Sweet too bad". Yep, that's them. They are sweet to the point of badness. As a matter of fact, I think I have diabetes on account of all the sweetness or at the very least a toothache.
The above conversation was only a sound bite of the before breakfast chatter so it's understandable that by mid-morning I am drained and looking for an atidepressant a pick me up. Smoothies are my favourite power breakfast or my mid-morning energy boast.
Anyone can make smoothies from scratch. There is no need for the pre-mixed powdered stuff which is what you are served at a very popular and in my opinion over-priced, local coffee house. Smoothies are often marketed as a health food. However it never ceases to amaze me when people don't understand that there is nothing nutritious in a drink if your server is shoveling it out of a large plastic bucket. Even worse you're being charged a premium price for inferior ingredients. You might as well be drinking very expensive, milky Kool Aid. I have actually asked to see the ingredient list on the back of one of those buckets and could not pronounce or recognize most of the ingredients. Confused? Click here for an excellent guide to help you rate the quality of your favourite smoothie establishment.
As long as the basic ingredients are ready to go, a smoothie can be prepared in minutes. Use plastic baggies and freeze fruit or even a mix of several fruit into individual portions. Ehow recommends that half a quart-sized plastic bag makes the perfect portion for one 16 ounce smoothie. I use full fat milk and yogurt in mine so one 8oz is good for me. Freezing fruit in season means that you can enjoy a smoothie even when the fruit is no longer available. Just remember to thaw frozen fruit slightly before putting it into your blender.
I'm afraid my recipe isn't very original. In fact the idea to put oatmeal in my smoothie came from Food Blogga. Check out her Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie here. Yes strawberries are rather expensive but some people spend much more than this each week on those trashy coffee house drinks. I refuse to feel guilty about the one box of strawberries I buy each year. Have fun and make up your own smoothie combination. Feel like sharing? Take a picture with your mobile phone and post pictures of your own smoothies concoctions. I'd love to see. Share them on the Breakfast Lunch Dinner Punch Fan Page.
Strawberry-Banana Oatmeal - Breakfast Smoothie
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup yogurt
1 cup yogurt
1 banana (cut up)
1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 cup milk (or juice, soy or almond milk- whatever you prefer)
1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 cup milk (or juice, soy or almond milk- whatever you prefer)
3-4 blocks ice
Directions
Purée everything in a blender or food processor until smooth and frothy. Add more milk to thin it out or more fruit and yogurt if it isn't thick enough.
Due to all the insanity on account of the kids being on vacation for the past two months, my post on the mystery fruit is not quite ready. Just one more week of vacation left. In the meantime if you guessed that the mystery fruit fron the previous post was a Mammy apple, Hooray! You are absolutely correct. More details on that and the delicious dessert still to come.
I love the texture I get from adding frozen bananas so those always go in mine. I never think to add sweetener like honey though. And I find if I use the frozen fruit I don't need the ice.
ReplyDeleteWe keep a bag in the freezer and quickly freeze fruit as they are about to go over. So we've added peaches, mango and plums to ours.
Carrots are another fav around here to add!
Some of my mom friends add spinach and OJ, they swear the OJ hides the taste of the spinach. I tried it -the hubby was pleasantly surprised. The kids not so much. But I might have been a bit heavy on the spinach -not giving up on that though.
One of my mom friends blends a bag of spinach with a bunch of OJ and then freezes it in cubes and then adds a couple cubes to her smoothies every time. She also does that with carrots.
This is awesome! We do a lot of smoothies in our house, too. I am incredibly in awe of your beautiful photos, here! I cannot properly photograph a beverage to save my life. It's a huge source of frustration for me!
ReplyDeleteI like that you've added oats for a thicker smoothie. I have 2 half-sisters who are just over 1 and 4, so I know what adorable little tornados they can be. Glad you have such a delicious smoothie to take a break with :).
ReplyDeletei can see a person taking a sip of this smoothie and being able to block out everything else--it's delightful!
ReplyDeleteI don't hear the same voices you hear, but I do hear one telling me to make this smoothie soon! If you're interested, I recently posted on a blueberry-oatmeal breakfast smoothie.
ReplyDeleteMMMM looks so good! Never tried one of these with oats.. I will try next time!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great! Yum!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - I hear those voices too!!! And, handily enough, we happen to live a stone's throw from the local mental hospital. I often (and increasingly as the summer holidays draw to a close) joke (?) that I'm 'going across the street for a while'. Your smoothie looks like a great way to send the kids off to school - I'm counting the days!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteDee - spinach and Oj. Can't imagine that OJ can mask the bitterness of our local bhaji. Do you mean the American spinach?
ReplyDeleteYes I mean American Spinach. Which isn't really bitter. You might be able to find it frozen.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby said you couldn't taste it. Since I make mine with diary for the kids I couldn't taste it personally -but he's got a low tolerance for when I try to sneak in healthy versions of stuff.
Of course it isn't super pretty like yours, but one of my friends serves it to her kids as a Shrek shake.
LOL Shrek Shake . Love it - It's all in the marketing!
ReplyDeleteYum as always! And I love the inclusion of the little voices, with the cooling photos interspersed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to add oats to the fruit smoothie!!!! I'll do that next time too. My mom likes to add almonds to her fruit smoothies. Yum!
ReplyDeleteWhat a scrumptious smoothie! I add yogurt to mine too and flax meal - will have to try oatmeal. I always use water to keep the calories low.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog. Absolutely stunning pics! You could seriously be a professional food photographer, but wait! You already are!! Great work!!
ReplyDeleteI hear voices too, "Is my coffee ready yet? We have smoothies every day - its how we get our daily dose of fresh fruit and its just darn tasty too.
ReplyDelete:-). I feel you.....and I LOVe, LOVE, LOVE the photos Wiz!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWonderful looking smoothie. The pictures are just gorgeous!
ReplyDelete